AceShowbiz -

Following last week's bidding war with five Hollywood studios, "Bond 25" reportedly has made a shortlist of potential helmers. According to IndieWire, "Sherlock" helmer Paul McGuigan is among the directors eyed by producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of Eon Productions.

The producers reportedly want to team up with McGuigan because they are very impressed with McGuigan's directorial project titled "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool", which stars Annette Bening and Jamie Bell. There hasn't been an official announcement about the matter, though. So far, it is only reported that Neil Purvis and Robert Wade are currently working on "Bond 25" script.

Last week's report said that five big studios were engaged in a bidding war for "Bond 25". Among the studios are Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Annapurna. While the rights to James Bond films are owned by EON and MGM, they need a distributor to handle the marketing.

Report also said that viewers might still have a chance to see Daniel Craig as the iconic British agent in the upcoming Bond movie. Sources told Page Six that Broccoli had "just about persuaded Daniel Craig to do one more Bond movie." Whether Craig will return for "Bond 25" remains to be seen.

McGuigan is best known for directing "Victor Frankenstein" and a handful of "Sherlock" episodes aired on BBC. His other directorial projects include "The Reckoning", "Push" and two episodes of "Luke Cage".